


Once the One True Morty

by ricksbestmorty (ittsbutters)



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: AU: Not C-137, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood and Gore, Captivity, Evil Morty!AU, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Starvation, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-21 20:37:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8259782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ittsbutters/pseuds/ricksbestmorty
Summary: In a dissociated state, Morty turned the page over after seeing a shadow of writing from the front. In big letters that were underlined and overwritten the paper had written: “RICK’S FLASK IS THE KEY."Morty sucked in a sharp breath when he realized that he wasn’t breathing. His head was beginning to pound as he tried to accept that he was really considering doing this. He was just another Morty; he was just another idiot in contrast to a brilliant scientist. He felt powerless despite the fact that he was being introduced to what felt like a once in a lifetime chance to save himself. He couldn’t just sit back and let Rick continue to destroy worlds, especially not when he had the answer on how to stop the man right in front of him.





	1. Step 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a very challenging fic to write. Like, the details and other things like that are insane. Anyway, this story will be updated at an extremely slow pace, so don't expect a scheduled uploading time or anything. As a full-time worker and a full-time student on top of being constantly in pain with the jones for season 3 of R&M, my updating speeds will be hellishly slow, much like Justin Roiland's and Dan Harmon's. I do have 3-4 chapters written already but I have no projected chapter amount. Also, these chapters are not beta'ed so spelling and grammatical errors are to be expected. 
> 
> Please leave your feedback below, as I do read it and take it into account when writing future parts of the story!

It was not like most common days in the Smith home. It was relatively quiet and surprisingly not busy. Generally, the house was bustling with conflict and teen angst. Today, however, things were calm. 

Despite the calm air, Morty Smith felt like his world was falling into chaos, something he had no control over. He was looking at a document he had found on his desk, one written clearly in his own handwriting. The only thing that made that document weird was that it was much further beyond his comprehension. If he couldn’t understand it, how in the world could he have written it? He had been told his entire life that he was not the brightest candle in the box, therefore there was no way in hell he was the original composer of the work in front of him. 

Maybe he was losing his mind. Maybe what he was reading was something that he had written in a hallucinogenic fit and none of it was likely. If that were the case, would these notes really be as detailed as they were? 

The paper in his hands went into excruciating details on how he could overthrow Rick and protect other dimensions’ versions of himself. Despite the fact that he couldn’t recall writing all of these, his jaw clenched and he felt his blood pressure rise. 

In a dissociated state, Morty turned the page over after seeing a shadow of writing from the front. In big letters that were underlined and overwritten the paper had written: “RICK’S FLASK IS THE KEY”. Morty’s deep brown eyes stared at the ink on the page for a long time before he took in a breath, having not even noticed the fact that he hadn’t been breathing. The only real excuse he could up with for this document was that he had been dreaming of something convoluted and exhaustion led him to write down the disconnected thoughts into what appeared to be coherent points. After all, Rick did care about him, even if he was like a human shield to his grandfather, right?

Morty got knocked back into his consciousness when he heard footsteps right outside of his bedroom. To make sure that he wouldn’t have to explain himself, the brunette shoved the page he had been holding into his backpack. Right as he did so, his bedroom door opened and he looked up to see Rick. “Morty? Morty, Morty, we gotta go. I gotta get to dimension C-26A and get some, some stuff. I-I need my little adventurin’ buddy to come with me.” He blubbered out, his speech slurred. It was very obvious that Rick was already heavily inebriated. 

“R-Rick, I gotta work on stuff, l-like homework a-and—“ Morty didn’t even get to finish his sentence before Rick spoke over him. 

“Morty, school’s for small minded peabodies. Y-you’ll,” He burped rudely, “you’ll learn some much more out in the galaxy th-than you ever would in a classroom, Morty. Y-you're gonna join me in studying science, Morty. It’s way, way more important than school.” Rick rambled as he grabbed the thin boy by his upper arm. “C-c’mon, Morty.” Rick burped again, “We gotta go.” 

“Geez, fine, Rick.” Morty said, no fighting against his grandfather too much. He had learned a long time ago that Rick always got his way. Besides, his mind was too far focused on the document that he found to even attempt to attend to his homework. 

Morty followed Rick into the spaceship made of random items from the garage as he tried to get his mind off of the document. Despite his concentration, he ended up back on the train of thought of that paper he had found. “Rick’s flask is the key.” What did that mean? Morty had always been under the impression that there was nothing more than some mix of strong alcoholic drink hiding the cool metal of the flask. Maybe Morty had just been too simpleminded to think anything different. 

As the two of them traveled through space, Morty couldn’t get his mind off of the document that he had read. There was a way to control Rick and save himself in other dimensions. Was that really worth it? Morty had always assumed that they were only close because of the fact that they were grandson and grandfather. Rick had told him about the fact that his brainwaves disguised the other man’s, but was that really hurting anyone? Morty’s thoughts began to wander to all of the people that had been hurt or even lost their lives because of the duo’s adventures. This was not even scratching the surface with the horrible crimes that Rick had committed, all while hiding behind Morty. That wasn’t okay, right?

As Morty pondered these points, his heart began to sink in his chest. He was really an accomplice in all of this. If he had just told Rick no to going on adventures, then the man wouldn’t have had easy access to do such horrible things. Was every dimension’s Rick like this? Did they all use Morty to act out their own sins? If they were, Morty couldn’t even fathom the large number of people hurt because of Rick’s apathetic outlook on other living beings.

Morty unintentionally started tapping his finger on the torn armrest of the ship as his mind went thoroughly through every detail. He was just beginning to grasp information he had never even thought about before. What was he going to do? Was he really even considering hurting other dimensions’ Ricks? He was only one lone Morty, what could he do?

The short brunette jumped at the sound of glass clinking against glass on the floor of the ship as Rick took a rough landing. “Morty, we’re here. I-I-I… Gonna grab some quantum regulators and maybe get some other shit if I can find it. I-If anything else comes up, you’re gonna be my cover, M-Morty.” Rick stated as he opened the driver’s side door, not even flinching at the disturbing amounts of alcohol bottles that fell from the small enclosed space. 

Morty nodded, “Y-yeah, okay, Rick.” He said, his voice feeling foreign to him. His mind was still completely immersed in the thought of that document he had read. He was too focused on the ideas running through his mind to care about what Rick had to say at that moment. He was trying to grasp how in the hell he had even figured out what he had written down before. He didn’t remember writing it that was for sure. He hadn’t even recalled that it was his own. Maybe he was just losing his mind and this was a final straw. Either way, Morty needed to either forget about it or act upon in. He wasn’t going to be able to handle just sitting on this intense plan. 

What felt like hours passed as Morty tagged along with Rick. He had spouted some excuse about being really tired as to why he was out of touch with reality. Luckily, it didn’t seem like this adventure was going to escalate into anything beyond a small shopping trip. Morty was too far in his own mind to possibly defend himself so he was grateful for the boring little trip. If he was given too much responsibility to save his own life, he would likely fail. 

Rick tugged Morty with him as he started flying them back home. Morty was thinking so hard that he barely even acknowledged when Rick lazily crashed into the garage like he did regularly. The older man pushed his door opened and gave a small glance to Morty, “I-I-I’m callin’ it a night.” He mumbled as he stumbled out of the ship and in the direction of his small bedroom right outside of the garage before Morty could even climb out of the dingy ship. 

Morty tugged himself out of the ship, feeling oddly focused for the level of exhaustion his body was exhibiting. Rarely did Morty find something that captured his full attention, but this was really tugging at him. What was he going to do about it? Obviously, this wasn’t going to be as easy as forgetting. He had no choice but to try and act on it for himself and for his fellow Mortys. 

When the brunette sat back down on his bed, he tugged the wrinkled papers out of his backpack where he had shoved them earlier when Rick had come into his room. He let his eyes flutter from one word to the next, absorbing every minuet detail that was written. This plan went into specifics of how he could trap Rick, descriptions of the little things that he would need to succeed. It told of the lockpad’s combination for the basement hatch that Rick had installed. It specified how he could make a device to control Rick down to the actual steps of the engineering aspect of it. There were many different coordinates listed with dimension names put off to the side telling of different Ricks’ locations. There was a list of other planets that would be ideal for hiding the saved Mortys. It even went as far as explaining a solid theory on how to avoid getting caught by other Ricks. 

Once Morty finished reading the page again, he let out a heavy sigh. None of the information written seemed dumbed down enough to be something that he had written. He had already acknowledged that the paper was in his handwriting, but it just wasn’t on his intelligence level. Maybe… Maybe he had taken a few sips of whatever was in Rick’s flask, which could have led to this burst of brilliance and also affected his memory? Morty let out a sigh.

The brunette knew that there was little to nothing that he could do at that moment. With Rick asleep on his own persuasion, the gray-haired 60 year old would surely wake up that moment anything was stirred in his personal space. More than likely, Morty would have to patiently wait until Rick had drank himself into losing consciousness. That was really the only time that Rick didn’t sleep with one eye open. 

Morty sucked in a sharp breath when he realized that he wasn’t breathing. His head was beginning to pound as he tried to accept that he was really considering doing this. He was just another Morty; he was just another idiot in contrast to a brilliant scientist. He felt powerless despite the fact that he was being introduced to what felt like a once in a lifetime chance to save himself. He couldn’t just sit back and let Rick continue to destroy worlds, especially not when he had the answer on how to stop the man right in front of him.


	2. Step 2

A few days passed like the speed of light. During that time, Morty was planning on how he could get Rick to get so inebriated that he would be able to steal the flask off of his drunken body. Despite the fact that he had no guide, he managed to come up with some sort of plan. 

It was dinner time in the Smith household, the time Morty was both excited and extremely nervous over. He knew that he was going to make more than Rick upset but he didn’t have a choice. He took a sip of his tea and let out a slow breath before speaking up once everyone was seated, “Hey, R-Rick. Why did you leave in the first place…?” Morty had honestly asked that question many times before. Never in his life had he thought he would be asking it with ill intent. 

Rick’s blue eyes snapped up from the meal Beth had made and he spoke, “Wh-why the fuck are you,” he burped in the middle of his sentence, “even asking me that, M-Morty?”

“Well, he is your grandson and has every right to know why you abandoned him, dad.” Beth chimed in. 

“I-it doesn’t even matter, okay?” Rick tipped the wine glass back, drinking nearly half of it in one desperate swallow. 

“But Rick, Birdperson showed me a picture of you holding me as a baby… Does that mean that you came to visit me without letting mom know?” Morty asked, food shoved into the side of his mouth. 

“Wait, what?!” Jerry chimed in, brown eyes shooting daggers at Rick. 

“I never saw Grandpa when we were younger.” Summer said, shrugging a little as she looked between Morty and Rick. 

“Dad, did you come here when Morty was a baby? Why would you even do that?” Beth asked, her voice becoming escalated. She took her own long drink of wine.

“Look, it doesn’t matter. A-and Birdperson doesn’t know shit, Morty.” Rick stated, finishing off his glass of wine before getting up from the kitchen table, “I’m getting a beer.” 

“Dad, you’re avoiding the topic.” Beth said, her voice shaking a little. 

“So?” Rick shrugged. “You avoid your kids, your failing marriage, and the reality that you would have been much better off if Jerry had stayed the hell away from you.” Rick retorted, throwing jabs to avoid probing. 

“I-I don’t. That’s not even the point, dad. Did you or did you not come here when Morty was younger?” Beth said, her own light blue eyes watching her father with more desperation than anger. 

“So I did. Sue me.” Rick grabbed at least three beers from the fridge that Morty could see before walking to the foyer that led to the entrance to that garage. “I’m going to work on some shit. No one follow me.” He said, waving his free hand in a dismissal manner before walking out. 

After that, the family finished dinner in silence. Summer was texting, Jerry was playing on his iPad, and Beth was quietly following in her father’s footsteps by drinking almost the whole bottle of wine. Then there was Morty, slowly eating at his food as his stomach did flips and his hands shook. He wasn’t ready to start on his next plan of action. 

Once Morty got too fed up with trying to finish his food with his upset stomach, he dumped the rest of his food in the disposal before putting his plate in the sink. He didn’t say a word to his tapped out family as he started in the direction of the garage. Before he even got to the door, he could hear the sound of a tool at work, which gave him the answer that he needed. He needed to wait, as Rick continued to drink himself mad while working on some mundane project that he knew was not going to be worth his time. 

The brunette went to his room, letting out a few panicked breaths. He was second guessing himself, especially after the argument that had happened in the dining room. He was hurting his family to save himself. Didn’t that make him exactly like Rick? Morty was the reason that his mom was going to get drunk. He was the reason that Summer was going to sneak out tonight. He was the reason that Jerry would be left to clean up the mess. He had hurt his family just to upset Rick. 

It took him a while to calm down before he was able to talk himself into leaving his room again to check on Rick. He quietly made his way down the stairs and back to the garage door. He listened closely, not hearing anything but silence on the other side. Morty carefully opened the door, speaking softly, “Rick?” There was no answer, which led the brunette into the room further. 

Morty’s brown eyes landed on Rick. He was leaning back in his work-chair, his mouth opened slightly and droll running down his chin. He was obviously passed out from the strange position he was in. Despite acknowledging this, Morty spoke out one more time, “Rick, you awake?”

When the old man didn’t even flinch, the younger boy felt a bolt of fear run through his spine. This was his chance. He took in a slow, calming breath and began stepping closer to Rick. He was shaking all over but he knew that this was one of his only chances to try this. 

Holding his breath so there was less of a chance to wake Rick, Morty reached forward. His fingertips brushed against the stained lab coat and he grabbed the material, pushing it aside slowly so that the metal flask would be visible. He reached for it carefully, managing to grab the cool tin without making a sound. 

Once the flask was in his hands, Morty backed away from Rick’s sleeping form and carefully unscrewed the lid. 

He tried to push all racing thoughts to the back of his mind as he tipped the container back, taking a large gulp of whatever was concealed. The bitter taste of the slightly thick liquid coated his mouth and he could feel it struggling to go down his esophagus. It definitely didn’t taste anything like any alcohol Morty had tasted before. 

He pulled the flask away from his lips and began to cough. Despite the fact that Rick was right there, Morty coughed with his whole abdomen. The feeling of the thick drink fighting its way down into his stomach was something that was not enjoyable by any means. He felt close to throwing up. There was a nausea there that made Morty gag in response to. Before he could question why Rick would ever, _ever_ drink something like that, he felt a splitting headache take over him. It wasn’t like that headache that he had already had the last few days from stress. No, this was a headache that was like when someone takes a drug for the first time.

Was this a drug? It felt like a drug to Morty. He had never really taken any drugs besides things given to him by a doctor or maybe some recreational pot in an attempt to get people to like him more. Nonetheless, this felt like what a drug would feel like. He could feel his brain speeding up in a way that he had never felt before. Alongside that it felt like he was feeling parts of his mind he had never felt before. Who even felt their brain at work? Morty could. He could feel the electro-neurological signals firing from one place to another in his mind. It made him feel dizzy and lightheaded. His emotions felt jarred; he almost felt like he didn’t care about anything. He didn’t care about the fact that he had upset his family and possibly hurting Rick completely was smothered by ultimate curiosity. 

Only a few moments went by with Morty staring at one spot in the garage that was collecting rust, hyper-focusing so he could readjust to the way his brain was operating before he stiffened up. His mind immediately jolted to the thought of his plans. He shot a quick glance at his grandfather before shuffling to the rug covering the hatch. He pulled it up and put in the code with expertise. The door opened and Morty felt liberated. He felt like he was finally getting to achieve what he had been wanting to fix for a long while. 

The small teen turned to look at his grandfather before deciding that he could use the chair that Rick was in to help get him to the hatch. He walked around the chair and pushed it near to the entrance of the hatch before taking Rick’s weight onto his shoulders. While Morty’s physical strength was poor, he felt adrenaline driving him to complete his task. He got down to the top step of the ladder and began climbing down slowly. 

He got to the dully lit room and let out a few huffs as he toted Rick to the chair sitting in the middle of the floor. He put the man down before turning the overhead lights on so he could see. It had been a while since he had been in the hatch, but he had a decent memory of how everything was last set up. 

Morty gathered supplies that he considered he might need such as a knife, rubbing alcohol, and some gauze. He had his ideas of how to get Rick to talk. In all reality, it was Rick’s fault that he had informed him of the fact that Mortys were mothing more that sentient flesh shields for Ricks to hide behind. It was also the old man’s fault that the subterranean lair was well stocked for survival—leaving Morty with all of the basic supplies that he would need. 

The brunet sat the tools he had chosen for his job down onto the main control board before being his attention back to the helpless string bean. Morty let out a breath before lifting the limp body with some effort. He managed to get his arms in the restraints Rick generally used for experiments first, then his ankles. When the small kid stepped away, he nodded in approval. 

While the teenager waited for Rick to regain his consciousness, he climbed back up to the garage and grabbed the flask that once belonged to Rick. Without that drink, he wouldn’t be doing what he was doing at that moment. He would be just another Morty, following his Rick blindly, accepting fate as it came. He was tired of that. He wanted to be free. That meant that he needed the recipe for the drink in the flask. Whatever it was, he couldn’t recreate it, he was sure. 

Time passed slowly, almost uncomfortably, as Morty waited for Rick to wake up. What felt like days later, Rick stirred. Morty was brought back to reality very quickly at the external sound. 

“Good morning, sunshine.” Morty stated, in a tone that could only be explained as sarcastic, if not a little apathetic. 

Rick let out a groan as he tried to move himself. The chained clanged against the wall, making a loud echo through the room. “W-w-what the fuck, Morty?” He groaned out, his voice more groggy that normal.

“Oh, don’t fret. Your body’s not going to be bound there forever. I just want some information.” Morty said, watching the pale face of the other. Once icy blue eyes met, Morty took a long drink from the flask. 

“M-Morty, you don’t need to be drinking’ that shit. I-it’s bad for you.” Rick said, his tone facetious. 

Morty let out a dry laugh, “Bad for me? No, Rick. I think it’s very good for me. It helped light the path to salvation.” The brunet said, taking a step closer to Rick. “It showed me the way to end your sacrilege and bring freedom back to every dimensions’ Mortys.” 

“ _Sacrilege_? Morty, I get you out of that boring as fuck school. I-I take you adventures literally out of this work. I changed your life.” Rick stated, watching the other closely. 

“For your own selfish, murderous, anarchist ways. You don’t understand, Rick. You have been destroying my parents’ relationship. You made me an intergalactic terrorist. I have seen so much death, torture, and brutality. I’m done. Mortys are regular boys and girls who just want to live a simple life with their families and what small friends they have. You ruined that, Rick. Now Mortys are on the run for the rest of their lives because of _you_.” 

“Why the hell would anyone want a simple life? I’ve been there and done that, Morty, and it’s not as idealist as you’re making it out to be.” Rick retorted. 

“Is that why you left my mom?” Morty pressed before taking in a sharp breath to calm himself down. “Nevermind. That’s off topic.” He said before putting the flask up closed to eye-height to Rick, “I want the recipe for this.” 

“Not in a million years.” Rick stated, watching him with annoyed eyes. 

Morty felt the uncharacteristic smile paint itself on his face, “You think that you have a choice?” His said, his voice sounding humoured. He lifted the knife he had dug out earlier and got closer to Rick. 

“Morty, stopping fucking around.” Rick said, rolling his eyes, It was very blatantly that Rick didn’t take Morty seriously. 

Instead of talking to the man again, Morty got very close to Rick. He pressed the knife against the shoulder of his lab coat and began dragging it down, letting it cut through fabric layer before getting to the thin skin of the older man. Morty didn’t stop though. He didn’t play scare games. He was going to make his point to Rick. 

“I-I’m not gonna tell you.” Rick said, his voice strained a little, once he realized that Morty was quite certain of what he wanted and had even figured out how he wanted it. Rick couldn’t really argue with it either, because it was just like himself. Violence was Rick’s go-to when people didn’t give him what he wanted. Like grandfather, like grandson it seemed. 

“Then I’ll keep hurting you until you do tell me.” Morty stated, his tone completely devoid of emotions. 

Rick shut his eyes and let the bald spot on his head touch the cool metal wall behind him. “You won’t kill me so it doesn’t matter.” 

“You don’t know.” Morty said, changing his attention from the deep cut on the man’s shoulder to his face. While the brunet was shorter, he was still able to reach Rick’s head from where he was standing. He pressed Rick’s head against the wall, making him stay in the position that he was a moment ago. Morty rested the cool tip of the knife against Rick skin, above the right side of Rick’s mouth. “Tell me the recipe.” 

Rick stared at him for a long moment, “No.” He said, not minding the fact that the knife had cut him a little when he spoke. 

Without any further warning, Morty pressed the knife down roughly, tugging it down to cut a deep gash above Rick’s mouth. “Tell me.” 

Rick struggled, hitting his chained wrists and ankles against the wall. As he struggled, the knife just cut more rigidly, causing more pain. “Fuck, oww, shit!” He cursed, still trying to move himself away from the blade and failing. He could feel the blood running down his chip and taste the copper of his blood running into his mouth. “You’re suck a fucking brat! Shit!” Rick yelled. Talking was painful and just made his mouth taste even more like blood. 

Morty ignored him and pressed the knife down more, beginning to scrape at Rick’s yellowed teeth with the blade. “Tell me.”

“Fuck fuck fuck! _Fine_!” Rick yelled out, beginning to regret the soundproof walls he had installed in the lair. He had no other option but to forfeit to his Morty or let the kid slowly torture him into submission. “I-it’s those mega-seeds from 35-C. Th-they’re ground up, mixed with caffeine and methylphenidate. O-o-one seeds, 65mg of caffeine, and 25mg of methylphenidate. Add half of cup of water and mix it.” Rick said, his voice tight as he tried not to move his mouth too much as he spoke. At that point, he was in immense pain. 

Morty nodded as he took mental note of what his grandfather had said. He was going to need to remember that. “Great.” He stated as he tugged the knife down again. He managed to cut through Rick’s bottom lip and down his jaw until his arm gave out. Morty decided at that point that Rick had had enough pain for being someone compliant. 

Contrary to history, Rick was oddly stiff. He had dealt with pain before but nothing like this. He had never imagined that Morty would turn his back on him. He never fathomed Morty hurting him intentionally. He hadn’t prepared himself to be betrayed by Morty. Morty was someone he thought he could trust. 

The brunet put the knife down and grabbed a notebook, quickly scrawling everything that Rick had said regarding the ingredients to the drink. “I’m letting you know now, just in case you were getting your hopes up: You’re never going to be freed again.” Morty stated as he put the pen down and made eye-contact with Rick. “I’m going to free other Mortys from their Ricks. I’m going to destroy as many copies of you as I can find. I wouldn’t put it past you and your cult to take multiple Mortys for higher protection, therefore you cannot exist any longer.” 

Rick was silent. The initial pain from the wound was beginning to set in. At that moment, Rick felt like putting his two cents in was just going to make things even worse than they were at that moment. 

“It sounds like you don’t have any rebuttal. Good. I’m going to begin building my plans from here. If I need you, you _will_ answer me.” Morty said before turning his back on the bleeding prisoner on the wall. He grabbed the notebook before speaking, “Where are the ingredients?” 

“Tool drawer. Second from the top.” Rick slurred out. His speech was distorted, but Morty understood well enough.

Morty held the notebook and claimed the ladder up to the garage so that he could check and make sure Rick wasn’t lying to him. Once he got onto the concrete floor, he went over to the drawer Rick mentioned. He quickly identified all of the needed ingredients besides water and decided that he would leave them in place so that he could make the mixture when he needed it. 

Now the brunet needed to start working on the mind control device. It was going to be tedious and difficult, but he had to do it for the sake of his fellow Mortys. Anything to save his fellow Mortys.


End file.
